Offensive Tackle/Guard

Wisconsin

6-7 314

Draft Board Overall Prospect Rank: #24

Draft Board Overall Offensive Tackle Rank: #3

Rating: 83 (Late 1st)

40 time: 5.12

2/19/11: Gabe Carimi might be the best pure right tackle prospect to come out in a while. He’s not athletic enough or quick enough to play left tackle and be matched up with the opponent’s best pass rusher every week, but what he does well is run block and he does it extremely well. In a way, he’s like a run blocking savant.

He doesn’t quite have the same measurable as Willie Colon, who measures in at 6-3 rather than Carimi’s 6-7, but they are very similar players. Colon gives up 6-8 sacks per year as a right tackle, but he’s so good as a run blocker that you deal with it. Colon is probably the best pure run blocker in the league and Carimi was the best pure run blocker in college football last year, for Wisconsin, whose strong line and running game allowed them to dominate the Big 10.

He overpowers everyone and plays with amazing leverage despite the tall frame. Most elite run blockers are 6-3, 6-4, while Carimi is 6-7. He has a strong lower body though and uses that to get great leverage, the way Jon Runyan, who was perennially the best right tackle in the league, when he was with the Eagles, before retiring (and becoming elected to congress as a republican from New Jersey). Runyan also was 6-7.

Carimi could also move inside to guard, but his value is as a right tackle, where he won’t be overwhelmed with the opponent’s best pass rusher every week, but can still focus on doing the most damage possible as a run blocker. He should get drafted in the late first, where teams like the Eagles, Ravens, Seahawks, Patriots, Bears, Steelers, Falcons and Saints all need offensive line help, but are good enough to use a first rounder on a luxury pick, which is what a right tackle really is.

NFL Comparison: Jon Runyan